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Arkid 0

Arkid 0

So the end of last season I noticed the windsheild had pulled out of the frame on the passenger side. It's the bottom part of the window which has pulled up out of the frame. I took in to Tilley's in Ventura where they had a look and said they can't repair it and also they tried to get a new windsheild with the frame from Malibu but they don't have any more anywhere. Apparantly they were told that the manufacturer, who I think is Taylor Made, wouldn't have any either. I plan on calling them tomorrow but i was wondering if anyone here had any knowledge.

They also suggested I take it to a glass company/installer and see if they could repair it but i'm not so sure.

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Arkid 0

Arkid 0

A lots happened in the past few weeks. Firstly, Tilleys called Malibu and said they didn't have a windsheild so I was told to come pick up the boat, there's nothing they could do. They said I would be better off going to a custom glass shop rather than a Malibu dealer. I decided to start calling around to see if I could find a new windsheild. After calling Malibu & Taylor Made I had 3 optoins on the table.

1. Replacing the whole windsheild.

Malibu has no original windsheilds for this boat, but after a few conversations with Mel over there, they did find a windsheild from a newer boat that fits exactly. Thanks Mel ! They updated their parts catalogue to show this incase anyone else needs one. The only problem for me was that you can only buy the whole winsheild and not just one side which is what I needed. At a cost of over a thousand plus installation I was shying away from this until I had no other choice.

After Tilleys were made aware of this they gave me a quote of 4 hours labor at $120 per hour to remove the windsheild and replace with the new one. You'll see what I think of this later...

2. Remove the windsheild and send it back to Taylor Made for rebuilding.

Linda over at Taylor Made was very helpful and said they could rebuild it for around $70 + shipping. This sounded great apart from the worry of having the glass break during shipping which would put me back to option #1.

3. The DIY option.

I thought I may as well, seeing as though worst comes to worst i'd be buying a new one anyway. the windsheid had about 10 screws holding it to the hull and a couple on the brace next to the walkthrough. These all came out in a couple of minutes and the windsheild was off. Me and a buddy took out half a dozen screws in the frame itself that held everything together and pulled the frame from the glass.

It became apparent how the whole thing came apart in the first place. A screw that held together the bottom piece of frame to the angled upright piece of frame between the curved front glass and the side wing glass was never screwed into both pieces, it only went through one and missed the other. This allowed the upright piece of frame to pull out of the bottom piece.

The whole thing was simple to put back together with the glass sandwiched between a rubber gasket and then being pushed back into the frame. All the screws were reset and an extra one where the original missed that caused the problem. About 15-20 minutes rebuild.

The winsheild was then screwed back onto the hull and she looks as good as new.

I know Tilleys are in business to make money but quoting $480 to remove/replace about a dozen screws is daylight robbery. I did the removal and refit in about 5 minutes total on my own. If I had been a customer who maybe wouldn't have thought twice about just ordering a new windsheild and have them do the switch I would never know what was going on. It makes me feel really uneasy knowing that a dealer would do this to it's customers and i'll be sure not to go there for any work again!

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BlastRlxi 445

BlastRlxi 445

I had a Taylor Made windshield on my last boat, a 2000 Sunsetter VLX. Personally, I thought it was a piece of junk. The paint was starting to come off, the screws holes for the center window latches were too big and the latches didn't fit right, and the overall fit and finish were terrible. I think that's why Malibu dropped them shortly after. The windshield on my '05 is a MUCH better product.

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UWSkier 5,980

UWSkier 5,980

I had a Taylor Made windshield on my last boat, a 2000 Sunsetter VLX. Personally, I thought it was a piece of junk. The paint was starting to come off, the screws holes for the center window latches were too big and the latches didn't fit right, and the overall fit and finish were terrible. I think that's why Malibu dropped them shortly after. The windshield on my '05 is a MUCH better product.

Who makes the screen on your '05? On our '02 and '03 team RLXes, the Taylor Made windshields fit much nicer than the PCW windshields. We had 2 of each. The PCWs had a big gap under the center pane where the Taylor fit right up tight to the top of the dash.

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IamN2Speed 0

IamN2Speed 0

I thought I may as well, seeing as though worst comes to worst i'd be buying a new one anyway.

I have no knowlege whatsoever of Tilleys, so my response is very general.

As you didn't know the true issue until you started taking it apart, and how simple a fix it was, is it possible that Tilley's didn't know either, and for a quote, they were just covering themselves? IE if when they got into it, and realized they could fix it in under an hour, perhaps they only would have charged you the $120...?

Propbably more likely, is that after you signed the $480 quote, they would have made sure to spend 4 hours, to 'earn' that extra 3 hours, but none the less, I'm just playing devils advocate and giving the benifit of doubt to Tilleys.

Bottom line is it is ALWAYS better to have knowlege when going into a repair shop. (auto/boat/etc). I know how long it takes me to replace a clutch in a car/truck. In the future, I have the ability of making an informed choice of having a repair shop doing it for me, or doing it myself, because like you, I decided to just dive in one time and do it myself. I've since done it 4 other times, so I've learned a lot about repair/replacing parts on cars. Self taught, and definately took the long way around often when I didn't need to. I know a LOT now; because I wasn't affraid to try. (and I was willing to pay the consequences if I failed).

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Arkid 0

Arkid 0

I thought I may as well, seeing as though worst comes to worst i'd be buying a new one anyway.

I have no knowlege whatsoever of Tilleys, so my response is very general.

As you didn't know the true issue until you started taking it apart, and how simple a fix it was, is it possible that Tilley's didn't know either, and for a quote, they were just covering themselves? IE if when they got into it, and realized they could fix it in under an hour, perhaps they only would have charged you the $120...?

Propbably more likely, is that after you signed the $480 quote, they would have made sure to spend 4 hours, to 'earn' that extra 3 hours, but none the less, I'm just playing devils advocate and giving the benifit of doubt to Tilleys.

Bottom line is it is ALWAYS better to have knowlege when going into a repair shop. (auto/boat/etc). I know how long it takes me to replace a clutch in a car/truck. In the future, I have the ability of making an informed choice of having a repair shop doing it for me, or doing it myself, because like you, I decided to just dive in one time and do it myself. I've since done it 4 other times, so I've learned a lot about repair/replacing parts on cars. Self taught, and definately took the long way around often when I didn't need to. I know a LOT now; because I wasn't affraid to try. (and I was willing to pay the consequences if I failed).

Bravo for you for jumping in!

-Keith

Hi Keith,

The quote wasn't for any repair work but simply for the removal/install if I ordered a new winsheild which comes ready to fit out of the box. Infact, I asked them if they could do the removal incase I wanted to ship it to Taylor Made to have them rebuild it but they didn't want to get involved in this and only do the removal if I was to buy a new one.

Ive always been hesitant about getting stuck in to do work on the boat as I didn't want to screw things up but you're right, may as well have a go first so you can see how things are done.